Arabella Toussaint:
My knees throbbed so badly that I barely slept. Every time I shifted on my narrow bed, a fresh wave of pain shot through them.
Early morning, the first knock on my door made me bolt upright. In Blackthorn pack, being late meant getting punished.
I hurried to freshen up and then made my way to breakfast. Once I reached there, Helena was already announcing duties.
"Slave! You’re helping prepare lunch for the royal family."
I nodded, "Yes, ma’am."
They served us a chicken sandwich, a donut, and a coffee. Unlike my pack, the people here at least expected me to work for them with a full belly.
After getting done with breakfast, I dragged myself to the kitchen. By the time I arrived, sweat had gathered on my forehead.
The kitchen was buzzing with Omegas chopping vegetables while others were kneading dough and stirring enormous pots.
The moment they noticed me, the conversation stopped.
"Bloody slave! Our princess was killed because of her brother," someone whispered.
One of the cooks pointed towards a wooden stool placed beside an enormous stockpot.
"Climb up!"
I stared at the stool, utterly confused, "... on... on my knees?" I asked in confusion.
"How else?" another Omega snapped, "Do you think we’ll lower the stove just because you’re here?"
Suppressing a sigh, I struggled onto the stool. I had to press my lips when my bruised knees hurt.
While I was trying to balance myself, a heavy steel tray slammed into the counter beside me. The loud clang made me flinch.
The tray was piled with raw marrow bones.
"Bone broth!" the cook said flatly, "Crack every bone! Scoop out the marrow. Then clean them before they go to the stockpot."
Trying to balance myself, I looked at the mountain of bones, "These are so many..." The words slipped before I could stop them.
Crap! What was I thinking?
"The princess is tired, guys!" An Omega winked as she announced in the kitchen, making most of them chuckle, "Don’t just stand there, Beta princess," She shoved a heavy cleaver into my hands.
It required a lot of force and multiple attempts to split them. It was making my arms sore. The second one slipped from my grip and crashed onto the floor. Everyone in the kitchen cracked up.
"How pathetic!" Someone remarked, "Let’s call her daddy to do the job."
They were trying to rile me up but were failing. I didn’t have any soft spot for my family
"Now pick it up, or should we call your murderer brother to do that job? Ha-ha." The laughter only grew louder.
Biting the inside of my cheek, I kept working. By the time I reached the bottom of the tray, my fingers had gone numb, and my shoulders ached. My knees had started burning so fiercely that I could barely feel the wooden stool beneath me.
Every one of them took a thirty-minute break, except me.
"You’re slower than the others," the head cook said without looking up, "So, you’ll keep working until you catch up."
"Yes, chef," My voice was barely above a whisper.
***
Dinner was finally served around seven p.m. By then, every bone in my body ached. I could no longer feel my legs and arms.
It was the end of a twelve-hour shift, so like every Omega, I expected to return to my room. Instead, Helena called my name, making me look up.
"Slave. You’ll clean the Omega bathrooms."
I let out a low grunt before closing my eyes. The Omegas who were seated there cheered for Helena.
"Imagine you’re taking a shit in the bathroom that got cleaned by a Beta princess!" Someone remarked, and this time I also couldn’t stop myself from laughing.
Their laughter died almost instantly, and several heads turned towards me in surprise.
"Is she even in her senses?" One of them asked someone, and I wanted to tell her that yes, I was very much in my senses.
I was not a beta princess. I was never a beta princess.
My family chose this for me. And I’d never forgive them for doing this to me.
***
"Look who’s here!" The bathroom door swung open, and three Omega girls walked in just as I was scrubbing the bathroom floor. I had been doing it for the past twelve years and knew exactly how to clean a bathroom.
The strong smell of soap and bleach stung my nose a little, something I was long used to.
"So... the Royal’s favorite slave is cleaning toilets? Tsk," They all burst into laughter. I lowered my head and continued scrubbing.
When they realized that I wasn’t going to react, one of them exchanged a glance with her friend, and a slow smile spread across her face, "Oops..."
Before I could react, she picked the bucket of dirty grey water sitting beneath the basin and headed to me to pour it on my head.
The icy splash stole the air from my lungs, making me gasp. Filthy water drenched my hair and ran down my face. Within seconds, my uniform was soaked, carrying the foul smell of dirty water.
The girls burst into another round of laughter. One of them pretended to sound guilty while batting her lashes, "Oh, no. It slipped."
I quietly wiped the dirty water from my eyes with the back of my hand and picked up the brush again. They kept throwing sly remarks my way, hoping to provoke me. When they didn’t get the reaction they wanted, their amusement slowly died.
"Don’t worry, girls. Vikki and Vanessa trained me well," I thought with a faint smirk and started scrubbing the floor again.
They must have realized they were wasting their time because one by one they eventually left.
I silently thanked the Moon Goddess for letting me work in peace for the rest of the evening.
By the time I was done, my stomach was growling again. I was hungry. But I didn’t dare ask for more food.
Omegas might be allowed that luxury. Not me. I was merely a slave.